The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Echinacea purpurea and will be referred to hereafter by its cultivar name, ‘Butterfly Kisses’. ‘Butterfly Kisses’ represents a new coneflower, an herbaceous perennial grown for landscape use.
The new cultivar arose from an ongoing breeding program of the Inventor's in Zuidwolde, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program is to develop new cultivars of anemone type Echinacea with very compact plant habits. The new cultivar arose from open pollination of an unnamed plant from the Inventor's breeding, designated as Ec 637-01, in summer of 2007. The male parent is unknown. ‘Butterfly Kisses’ was selected as a single unique plant from the resulting seedlings in July of 2009.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar was first accomplished by in vitro propagation in Heerhugowaard, The Netherlands in April of 2010 under the direction of the Inventor. The characteristics of this cultivar have been determined to be stable and are reproduced true to type in successive generations.